Notation
Note: The tunes below are recorded in what
is called “abc notation.” They
can easily be converted to standard musical notation via highlighting with your
cursor starting at “X:1” through to the end of the abc’s, then
“cutting-and-pasting” the highlighted notation into one of the many abc
conversion programs available, or at concertina.net’s incredibly handy “ABC
Convert-A-Matic” at

**Please note that the abc’s in the Fiddler’s
Companion work fine in most abc conversion programs. For example, I use
abc2win and abcNavigator 2 with no problems whatsoever with direct
cut-and-pasting. However, due to an anomaly of the html, pasting the abc’s
into the concertina.net converter results in double-spacing. For
concertina.net’s conversion program to work you must remove the spaces
between all the lines of abc notation, so that they are single-spaced, with
no intervening blank lines. This being done, the F/C abc’s will convert to
standard notation nicely. Or, get a copy of abcNavigator 2 – its well worth
it.[AK]

SHOE THE DONKEY [1]. Irish, Mazurka (3/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning. AABBC. A version
of "Varsovienne [1]" recorded on
the Topic album 12T367, "John McGettigan"-- a reissue of late 1920's recording
by McGettigan, a Donegal native transplanted to Philadelphia,
Pa.Other Donegal versions can be found in the repertory of Pat Kelly of
Bundoranand of Danny Meehan and his
sister, Roseabelleplay.See "Shoe
the Donkey" [3] for yet another.

SHOO FLY. Old‑Time, Breakdown and Song Tune. USA;
Arkansas, West
Virginia, Virginia.
D Major. Standard tuning. AABB (Phillips, Silberberg): AA’BB’ (Songer). The
original “Shew Fly, Don’t Bother Me” was a “Comic Song and Dance, or Walk
Round” (as the sheet music explained) hit for Billy Reeves (words) and Frank
Campbell (music) who composed it in 1869. The two were blackface minstrels and
claimed the tune, although it has been pointed out that the reference to
‘Company G’ in some song versions suggests Civil War origins. The tune was
recorded on 78 RPM for Brunswick Records by Kanawha County,
West Virginia, fiddler Clark Kessinger
(1896-1975). The title appears in list of traditional OzarkMountain fiddle tunes compiled by
musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954.

SHOOT THE BUFFALO. The title is close to “Hunting
the Buffalo,” although the play-party song “Shoot the Buffalo” is
apparently not related to the “Hunting the Buffalo” tune. Still, there is
confusion about the titles.

SHOOTIN'
CREEK [2]. Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA,
southwestern Virginia. D Major.
Standard tuning. Alan Jabbour feels this version of the tune, from the playing
of Henry Reed, “is similar enough to be compared to (Shooting Creek [1]), but different enough that it cannot be flatly
called a variant.” He says it is of the simpler variety of tune popular with Blue
Ridge area musicians, lending itself to performance on the banjo. Library of Congress (AFS 13037b01), Henry Reed.

SHOOTIN' CREEK [3]. Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA,
North Carolina. Musically version
#2 is not related to version #1, however, the title refers to the same Franklin
County, Va., bootlegging area. Members of the famous string band Charlie Poole
and the North Carolina Ramblers spent a good deal of time in the area between
1924 and 1931 and recorded a tune under the title. Joel Shimberg points out the
the Ramblers’ “Shootin’ Creek” is really a version of “Cripple Creek.” Columbia 15286‑D (78 RPM),
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina
Ramblers (1928).

SHOOYL INNEENYN.Isle of Man, Dance Air. Maggie's
Music MM107, "Music in the Great Hall" (1992).

SHORES OF BALLYBUNNION, THE (Cladaí Bhaile an Bhuinneánaigh).Irish, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning. AA’BB’. Frank Lee’s Tara Ceilidh
Band recorded this melody on a 78 RPM recording for Columbia
in the 1930’s. The band was based in London,
and leader Frank Lee was a piano player. Breathnach (CRÉ V), 1999; No. 128, pg. 65.

SHORES OF LAKE
ERIE. American. Recorded by (Scottish?)
fiddler William Craig on an Edison cylinder (#9893).

SHORT AND SWEET. AKA and see "Orlabear's
Maggot." Irish, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning. AABB. The tune appears
under this title in O’Farrell’s Pocket
Companion for the Irish or Union Pipes (vol. II, c. 1806). The first part
bears some similarity to the march/air “Rising
of the Moon.” O’Farrell (Pocket
Companion, vol. II), c. 1806; pg. 142.

SHORT APRON [1], THE. Scottish, Jig. F Major. Standard tuning. AABB.
Directions to one version of this tune were written down in 1752 by John
McGill, a dancing master in Girvan, for his students. John Glen (1891) finds
the earliest appearance of the tune in Robert
Bremner's 1757 collection; it also appears in the Gillespie Manuscript of Perth, 1768. Bremner (A Collection of Scots Reels), 1757; pg. 9. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 427. Gow
(Complete Repository), Part 3, 1806;
pg. 30.

SHORT APRON [2] (An t-aparan goirid). Scottish, Slow Air (3/4 time). C Major.
Standard tuning. AAB. "Ancient Simple Set" (Fraser). "This air,
from having been new modeled by Macgibbon or Oswald, is claimed as a Lowland
Scots Melody,‑‑whilst the original will be found by far the most
simple and beautiful of the two, as sung to Gaelic words by the same
gentleman" (Fraser). Fraser (The
Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland
and the Isles), 1874; No. 39, pg. 14.

SHORT LIFE TO ALL
STEPMOTHERS.Scottish, Strathspey. D Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The melody
appears in the 4th collection of Malcolm MacDonald of Dunkeld,
dedicated to the Countess of Breadalbane. Nathaniel Gow (1763-1831) produced an
answer of sorts to MacDonald’s tune a few years later with his strathspey “Long Life to Stepmothers” (Fourth
Collection of Strathspey Dances, 1800). MacDonald (A Fourth Collection of Strathspey Reels), 1797; pp. 12-13.

SHORTENIN' BREAD [1]. Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA;
east Tennessee, Kentucky,
North Carolina, Virginia,
West Virginia, Alabama,
north Georgia, Arkansas.
A Major (Krassen): D Major (Fuzzy Mountain String Band): G Major (Silberberg).
Standard, ADad (Reaves WhiteCounty
Ramblers) or AEae tunings (fiddle). AABB. The melody has wide currency in the
South, and appears in many traditional song collections starting with Perrow
(1915). Perrow’s version was collected from East Tennessee
white singers, and has been called an "east Tennessee
favorite" by musicologist Charles Wolfe. Mattie Cole Stanford, in her 1963
book Sourwood Tonic and Sassafras Tea,
listed it as one of the tunes played at the turn of the century by fiddler
George Cole of Etowah County, Alabama
(Cauthen, 1990). It was one of the first tunes recorded by Kentucky fiddler Doc
Roberts in the 1920's and was recorded for the Library of Congress by
musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, from the playing of Ozark Mountain
fiddlers in the early 1940's.

***

African-American collector Thomas
Talley, in his book Negro Folk Rhymes
(1922, a new edition 1991 edited by Charles Wolfe), prints a unique version of
the song as “Salt Rising Bread,” which goes:

SHOUT LULU. AKA – “Shout Little Lulu,” "Shout Lula," "Shout
Lou," "Shout Old Lulu." AKA and see "Hook and Line," ”Roustabout.” Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA;
east Tenn., southwestern Va.,
north Georgia, north
Carolina, Ohio.
G Major. GDad tuning. AABB. Art Rosenbaum (1989) says "this song is much
more current in the tradition than its absence from printed collections would
suggest." A banjo piece and dance tune, it goes by a variety of titles,
including “Hook and Line,” “Banjo Sam,” “Fish on a Hook,” and others (see note
for “Hook and Line”). Mike Yates
(2002) suggests it may have derived from an early minstrel tune called “My Old
Dad.” It was the repertoires of Dock Boggs and John Dykes (of the Dykes Magic
City Trio) under the title "Hook and Line," while Hobart Smith
fiddled it as “Katy Went Fishing with Her Hook and Line,” and said “It’s a real
old piece, handed down from my fathers.”Rufus Crisp, Woody Wachtel, Roscoe Holcomb, Pete Steele, Ralph Stanley,
and Fiddlin' Cowan Powers 1877‑1952? (RussellCounty, southwest Va.)
played it as well as Uncle John Patterson (Carroll County,
Ga.), a sometimes Skillet Lickers hanger‑on
who learned to pick the tune on the banjo "on his mother's {champion
banjoist Bessie Patterson} lap when he was three years old" (Rosenbaum).

SHOVE
THAT PIG'S FOOT A LITTLE FARTHER IN THE FIRE. Old-Time, Breakdown. G Major. Standard tuning. AB (Silberberg): AABB
(Phillips, Songer). A ‘pig’s foot’ is a blacksmith’s tool that somewhat
resembles a crowbar or poker, used to manipulate pieces of pig iron in a forge.
The tune was originally recorded by western North Carolina fiddler Martin
Marcus on an LP where he played it as a duet with his son Wayne. Marcus also
recorded for the Library of Congress in the 1940's. Joel Shimberg (who says
“Surely it’s a barbecue song”) learned the following verse to the (low part of
the) tune from Mike Seegar:

SHOWMAN'S JIG, THE. Irish, Jig. A Major. Standard tuning. AA’BB’.
Source for notated version: the Rice-Walsh manuscript, a collection of music
from the repertoire of Jeremiah Breen, a blind fiddler from North Kerry, notated
by his student [O’Neill]. O’Neill (Waifs
and Strays of Gaelic Melody), 1922; No. 161.

SHREWSBURY LASSES. English, Country Dance Tune (2/2 or cut time). D Major. Standard
tuning. AABB. Shrewsbury, England, has been in existence since the 5th
century when the former Celtic inhabitants of the Roman town of Wroxeter moved
to a more easily defensible place. It was the capital of the Welsh kingdom of
South Powys but was conquered by the Mercians in the 8th century,
but it remained a border town for centuries. It was at Shrewsbury where Henry
IV defeated the rebellious Percys of Northumberland in 1403. Published before
1730 according to Raven, though Barnes dates it to 1765. Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes), 1986.
Fleming‑Williams & Shaw (English
Dance Airs; Popular Selection, Book 1), 1965; pg. 14. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg.
20.

SHREWSBURY WALTZ. English, Waltz. England, Shropshire. G Major. Standard tuning. AABB.
Shrewsbury, England, has been in existence since the 5th century when
the former Celtic inhabitants of the Roman town of Wroxeter moved to a more
easily defensible place. It was the capital of the Welsh kingdom of South Powys
but was conquered by the Mercians in the 8th century, but it
remained a border town for centuries. It was at Shrewsbury where Henry IV
defeated the rebellious Percys of Northumberland in 1403. Source for notated
version: a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No.
105a, pg. 42.

SHROPSHIRE LASS. English, Country Dance Tune (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning. AABB.
“Shropshire Lass” first appears in print in Walsh’s New Country Dancing Master, 2nd Book (London,
1710). It was printed a few years later in 1713 in John Young’s edition of
Playford’s Dancing Master, vol. II,
and again in the 1714, 1718 and 1728 editions of the long-running series. Walsh
printed it again in his Second Book of
the Compleat Country Dancing-Master (London,
1719), and his third book of his New
Country Dancing Master (London,
1728). There are no further occurrences of the melody in print in older
collections [Keller, Keller, Camus & Cifaldi, Early American Secular Music and Its European Sources, 1589-1839].
Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes),
1986. Bentley (The Fallibroome Collection,
Book 4), 1971. Callaghan (Hardcore
English), 2007; pg. 48. Kilpatrick & Haris (The Opus Pocus Tune Book).

SHULE AROON [2] (Siubal a Run). AKA and see "Shule
Agra," “Siúl a ghrá.” Irish,
Slow Air (4/4 time, "palintively"). A Minor. Standard tuning. AB.
"This simple and pathetic little ballad is a favourite all over Ireland. The
words have been printed in many collections for more than a century, including
Duffy's 'Ballad Poetry of Ireland': and I have copies on sheets issued by
'Haly, Printer, North Main Street, Cork.' I have known both words and air from
my earliest days. I give the air, partly from memory, and partly from Forde,
who has half a dozen settings in his collection. It is sometimes written in 3/4
time, and indeed the version in my memory inclines to that. A version of the
song was published, with the air harmonised, by a well‑known Dublin
musician, the late Joseph Robinson. The ballad belongs to the time of the 'Wild
Geese' or Irish Brigade (between 1691 and 1745), when thousands of young
Irishmen went to the Continent to enlist in the armies there, chiefly French.
For Mr. A.P. Graves's adaption of this old song, see his Irish Song Book, pg. 6. Gerald Griffin has a song to the air also,
'My Mary of the Curling Hair,' with the old chorus altered and adapted"
(Joyce).

SHUNSTER'S
HORNPIPE. AKA and see “St. Elmo Hornpipe,” "The Sunshine Hornpipe." American,
Hornpipe. A Major. Standard tuning. AABB. "Can be used as a Clog"
(Cole). Howe lists the tune among the schottisches. Curiously, Howe’s title
is “Shunter’s Hornpipe,” but by the time of the Cole printing it the name had
acquired an ‘s’—“Shunster’s Hornpipe.” Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes),
1940; pg. 100. Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels),
c. 1867; pg. 55. Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, 1883; pg. 136.

SHUT(T)ER'S HORNPIPE. AKA – “Shooter’s Hornpipe,”
“Shutter’s Hornpipe.” English, Hornpipe. England; Northumberland, Yorkshire. A
Major (Merryweather & Seattle, Seattle/Vickers): G Major (Bewick, Orford,
O’Neill). Standard tuning. AABB. Composed by “Morgan.” This hornpipe was,
according to Merryweather and Seattle (1994), once quite well-known--indeed, it
is found in a number of collections--though is not heard often today. The
editors suggest it was named after the 18th century comic actor, Ned
Shuter (d. 1776). An article in the volume English
Actors: From Shakespeare to Macready (Henry Hold and Co., New York. 1879)
has this to say of Ned:

***

Garrick pronounced Ned Shuter to be the greatest comic genius he had
ever

known. He was the original Old Hardcastle and Sir Anthony Absolute,
Papillon

in The Liar, and Justice Woodcock in Love in a
Village. Strange to say, he was a

follower of Whitefield’s, a constant attendant at the Tottenham Court
Road Chapel,

and divided his time pretty equally between drinking, playing, and
praying; when

drunk he could scarcely be restrained from going into the fields and
preaching upon

original sin and regeneration. Tate Wilkinson, who was a hanger-on upon
Shuter,

relates how he used to accompany him on Sunday mornings at six to the
Tottenham

Court Road Chapel; at ten to another meeting-house in Long Acre; at
eleven back to

Whitefield’s chapel; at three to some other; and in the evening to
Moorfields. He was

very liberal to the Whitefieldites, and it is said that Whitefield
himself, although a

bitter denouncer of all persons and things dramatic, on the occasion of
Shuter’s benefit

recommended the congregation to attend the theatre for once, on that night only.

***

His first appearance was at Covent Garden in 1745, as The Schoolboy, for the benefit of an

actor named Chapman, and he was so young that he was announced in the
bills as ‘Master

Shuter’, as he was in those of Drury Lane a twelvemonth afterwards. He
died November 1st,

1776. His last performance was Falstaff, for his own benefit, in the
preceding May; but

between the bottle and the tabernacle his faculties were nearly gone.
“He was more bewildered

in his brain,” says Wilkinson, “by wishing to acquire imaginary grace
than by all his drinking;

like Mawworm he believed he had a call.” In his reasonable moments he
was a lively, shrewd

companion, full of originality, whim and humor; all he said an did was
his own, for it was

with difficulty he could read his parts, and he could just sign his name
and no more; but he

was the delight of all who knew him on or off the stage. John Taylor
relates how he and his

father dined and passed an evening with him at the “Blue Posts” Tavern
in Russell Street,

and how all the people in the neighboring boxes could do nothing but
listen to his comic

stories and bon-mots. Another time they were at some gardens, when the
people gathered

together in such crowds to hear his humorous sallies, that the waiters
could not move about

to serve. “No person thought of retiring while Shuter remained, and I
remember seeing him in

the midst of his friends, as if he were the monarch of merriment.”

***

He was equally a favourite with the most distinguished people in the
realm. It is related that

One night two of the royal princes came behind the scenes to have a chat
with him. Their

presence was anything but welcome on that occasion, as Shuter desired to
study his part.

“By Jove,” he said suddenly, “the prompter has got my book; I must fetch
it. Will your

Royal Highness,” addressing one of his visitors, “be so obliging as to
hold my skull-cap to

turning to the other, “will condescend to air my breeches while I am
gone?” The second request

was as cheerfully complied with as the first. Returning presently with
another actor, and peeping

through the keyhole, he saw his two visitors still engaged as he had
left them, patiently awaiting

his return.

***

The melody is contained in an
extraordinary number of 19th century musicians’ manuscripts, including:
John Clare (Helpstone, Northants), George Spencer (Leeds, west Yorkshire,
1831), William Thomas Green (Northumberland, 1851), James Biggins (Leeds, west
Yorkshire, 1779), William Winter (West Bagborough, Somerset), James Winter
(Stanton, Gloucestershire,1833), John Miller (Perth, Scotland, 1799), Joshua
Jackson (Harrogate, north Yorkshire, 1798), John Hall (Northumberland, 1833),
Tiller,W. Cock’s (a Northumbrian
collection with various dates) and the Wolsnoume manuscript (Lancashire, c.
1798). See also the published manuscripts of William Vickers (Northumberland,
1770) and Lawrence Leadley (Helperby, Yorkshire), as
noted below.

SHUTTER'S HUMOURS. AKA – “Shuter’s Humour.” English, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning. AAB.
See note for "Shut(t)er's Hornpipe"
for information on Shuter. The melody appears in Charles and Samuel Thompson’s Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country
Dances (London, 1757), John Johnson’s Two
Hundred Favourite Country Dances (vol. 8, London, c. 1758), and William
Vickers’ Northumbrian manuscript collection (1770). It also appears in the
American music manuscript copybook of Henry Livingston, Jr.Livingston purchased the estate of Locust
Grove, Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1771 at the age of 23. In 1775 he was a Major
in the 3rd New York Regiment, which participated in Montgomery’s
invasion of Canada in a failed attempt to wrest Québec from British control. An
important land-owner in the Hudson Valley, and a member of the powerful
Livingston family, Henry was also a surveyor and real estate speculator, an
illustrator and map-maker, and a Justice of the Peace for Dutchess County. He
was also a poet and musician, and presumably a dancer, as he was elected a
Manager for the New York Assembly’s dancing season of 1774-1775, along with his
3rd cousin, John Jay, later U.S. Chief Justice of Governor of New
York. Seattle (William Vickers),
1987, Part 2; No. 359.